The influence of the gothic and its atmosphere of gloom and decay have inspired classics of horror and the supernatural for more than two centuries. The Phantom of the Opera and Other Gothic Tales collects twenty-five classic stories shaped by gothic's mood of menace and the macabre. In addition to the world-famous title novel, about a ghost, who terrorizes the personnel of the Paris Opera House, the book includes Horace Walpole's The Castle of Otranto, the book that launched the gothic novel craze, as well as stories by H. P. Lovecraft, Edgar Allan Poe, Mary Shelley, Arthur Machen, Louisa May Alcott, E. T. A. Hoffmann, J. Sheridan Le Fanu, and Vernon Lee. The Phantom of the Opera and Other Gothic Tales is one of Barnes & Noble's Collectible Editions classics. Each volume features authoritative texts by the world's greatest authors in an exquisitely designed bonded-leather binding, with distinctive gilt edging and a ribbon bookmark. Decorative, durable, and collectible, these books offer hours of pleasure to readers young and old and are an indispensable cornerstone for every home library.